Boca to consider investing in Israel

Putting a part of Boca Raton's investment portfolio into the state of Israel will be on the City Council agenda Tuesday.

At its Tuesday workshop, the council is scheduled to hear a pitch from Mark Rubin, executive director of Boca's office of Israel Bonds. Israel Bonds is a broker-dealer that underwrites securities issued by Israel in the United States.

The idea was brought forward by Robert Weinroth, one of the two newly-seated City Council members. It's a safe investment that makes a statement, he said.

"They've never defaulted," Weinroth said. "It's a safe investment and it would certainly demonstrate our commitment to the only democracy in the Middle East."

It's unknown how much Boca could or would invest, but usually such foreign investments are capped at 1 percent of the total investment portfolio.

The Florida Legislature specifically granted permission for municipal and county governments to invest in Israel in 2007. Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, got the bill moving in the Florida House and Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, did the same in the Senate.

The bills passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate.

Soon after that, in the same year, Palm Beach County opted to invest in Israel bonds. Right now, 1 percent of the county's $1.6 billion portfolio is invested in the Israeli government. It's the only foreign government the county invests in.

The amount of U.S. public and private investment in Israel surpassed $1.2 billion in 2013, according to Israel Bonds.

Foreign bond investment by governmental entities had once been widely prohibited. Now, though, more than 80 state, municipal and public employee pension funds and Treasury funds have invested over $2 billion in Israel bonds, according to information on the Israel Bonds website.

Former House majority leader Hasner said that he was looking for more than a good monetary return for the investment of cities and counties in Israel when he introduced the legislation.

"The idea was to ... provide the opportunity to make a strong political statement about our support for Israel, America's strongest ally in the Middle East," Hasner said.

Hasner also introduced legislation that divested governmental money from companies that did business with Iran.

"Florida has always been considered the No. 1 state in the country when it comes to support for the state of Israel," Hasner said.

Boca's Weinroth said that he realizes that using tax dollars for investment in Israel has been controversial.

"There might be some people out there who might be critical (of investing Boca dollars in Israel) based on political issues," he said. "But the majority of our residents recognize Israel as an important ally of the United States."